If you're one of the millions of people who've already upgraded to Windows 10, you've probably noticed that the OS changed your default apps. Your main browser, for instance, suddenly became Microsoft Edge after the upgrade -- something Mozilla finds "disturbing," especially since the platform actually made it trickier to switch back to Chrome, Firefox or any other browser. In an open letter to Microsoft head honcho Satya Nadella, Mozilla's CEO Chris Beard revealed that the non-profit got in touch with the Windows 10 team when it got wind of the change, but that "didn't result in any meaningful progress."

Typically, you have to jump in with both feet if you want to shape web browser features -- you have to use early (read: buggy) releases and leap into the developer community. But what if you're happy with a stable version and just want to offer a bit of constructive criticism? Mozilla will soon have you covered. It's launching Idea Town, an opt-in program that lets you try upcoming features and offer feedback. You won't have to ditch a regular copy of Firefox, and these will only be features that are likely to show up. While this means that you won't get strictly experimental features (think Chrome's flags), it should put more of the development process in your hands.

Outside of one or two exceptions, most Firefox OS devices have been aimed squarely at the budget crowd -- at folks who would otherwise have to entirely forego smartphoness or tablets. However, Mozilla is ready to switch things up. The organization has unveiled a new strategy, Ignite, that should lead to Firefox OS gadgets you want to buy "because of the experience" rather than the price tag, according to CEO Chris Beard. Just what that entails isn't clear, but there's little doubt that this means a shift toward higher-end (though not necessarily flagship-class) hardware.

It's been a long time coming, but Firefox for iOS is nearly here... in a manner of speaking. Mozilla has revealed that it's about to conduct a "limited" beta test of the web browser, and has already posted source code for early testers. The organization would like to have an open beta that gives everyone an early peek (à la Android), but that's not really possible with Apple's current testing mechanism. Still, a public release is likely close behind -- if you're not a fan of your iPhone's existing web surfing options, you'll have another major alternative before long.

Starting next week, Firefox beta users will start seeing "Suggested" tiles whenever they open a new tab. These are ad tiles clearly marked as such (see bottom left above), which are a separate entity from the Directory tiles Mozilla launched in 2014. See, Directory tiles are randomly selected ads that appear in your new tab if you've just installed or reinstalled the Firefox browser. Suggested tiles, on the other hand, are based on your browser history. Yep, the program will look at what you've been visiting online to deliver relevant ads -- in these codes that TechCrunch found, for instance, you'll see that visiting Engadget tells Firefox that you're interested in technology.

Whatever your views are on online advertising, it's here to stay. But that doesn't mean that companies aren't doing all they can to strip the web of ads on your behalf. Perhaps the most notable is Adblock Plus, which has made a name for itself by delivering browser extensions so efficient that Google and Microsoft have paid to be whitelisted. After briefly enjoying a period on the Play Store before it was pulled by the search giant in 2013, Adblock Plus today makes a return to Google's marketplace in the form of a browser.

Panasonic lost some mystique when it stopped making those amazing plasma sets, but its new Firefox OS-powered 4K Smart TVs are showing a return to form. First revealed at CES this year, those sets are now available in Europe and will be rolling out to the US and elsewhere in the coming months. The Smart TV space has become crowded with players including Google's Android TV platform, Samsung's Tizen and Roku, to name just a few. However, Mozilla touts several unique advantages to its own platform, like plenty of HTML5 web apps including Netflix and Hulu, along with the ability to share content from any device with a Firefox browser.

Due to ​Hollywood's insistence on DRM to stream its movies on Netflix, Firefox users who wanted to watch flicks on the service had to download the Silverlight plugin. That's because until now, Mozilla's staunch open-source philosophy prevented the browser from being loaded with the DRM tech -- dubbed the Adobe Content Decryption Module (CDM) -- necessary to stream those shows on regular ol' HTML 5 (Chrome and Safari, on the other hand, have no such scruples). Not so with the latest version of Firefox, however, which is ready to help you watch your favorite Netflix show just by itself, no plugin required. If you're strictly anti-DRM though, no worries; Mozilla is pushing a non-CDM version of the browser for your principled pleasure that only downloads the DRM module when you visit a page that needs it. It might seem a little antithetical for Mozilla to offer a browser with DRM support, but we can understand why one might want to bend the rules to watch the wonder that is Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Firefox OS might be in a distant fourth place (or further?) here domestically, but Mozilla sees plenty of value for it in emerging countries. Specifically? Senegal and Madagascar in Africa, where it recently partnered with French telecom Orange to launch the KLIF. And no, you aren't wrong, it's neither a flip-phone or a slider. Nor is it transparent. A Mozilla blog post says that the main idea with this 3G smartphone is to get more people online in places where they previously couldn't. It's the web outfit following through on a promise it made back at Mobile World Congress in Spain, and the Middle East is where we'll see the initiative pop up next.

A number of internet organizations and even the government want websites to use encryption by default in the future, and from the sound of it, Mozilla shares their view. The non-profit has announced that it plans to limit the capabilities of "the non-secure web" (aka websites that don't use HTTPS), in order to encourage a more widespread use of encryption. Mozilla has a two-element approach in place, one of which is making all new features of the Firefox browser and its other products available only to secure websites when we reach a certain date. The org will consult its users -- just like it did before it ultimately decided it wants to stop supporting unencrypted sites in the long run -- not only to pinpoint that date, but also to decide what features are considered "new" by that time.

See that wooden round thing above? That's a smartphone -- a real, working smartphone with a high-res screen and a camera, and not just a concept that will never come to life. Just imagining how to take calls on it without a headset or how to access websites on it is giving us a headache, but it's sure a good way to stand out in a world dominated by rectangular devices. This circular oddity is called the Runcible, and San Francisco design firm Monohm modeled it after pocket watches and compasses: items it says we humans have been carrying with us for ages.

Next time you have to access WhatsApp on your desktop, you won't need to fire up Chrome if it's not your preferred browser. The messenger's web client now works on both Firefox and Opera, giving you more choices on the computer, though you'll still obviously have to settle if you're a Safari fan. That's pretty much all that's changed: the sign up process remains the same, so you will be prompted to scan a QR code with the mobile app in order to start using the web client like we mentioned when the product launched. Unfortunately, that also means iPhones still don't have the capability to scan that QR code (Windows Phone, BlackBerry and Android devices can), forcing faithful iOS users to stick to their mobile devices.

You might not be happy that Google isn't fixing a web security flaw in your older Android phone, but the search giant now says that it has some good reasons for holding off. As the company's Adrian Ludwig explains, it's no longer viable to "safely" patch vulnerable, pre-Android 4.4 versions of WebView (a framework that lets apps show websites without a separate browser) to prevent remote attacks. The sheer amount of necessary code changes would create legions of problems, he claims, especially since developers are introducing "thousands" of tweaks to the open source software every month.

Oculus Rift developers can now just use Firefox Nightly instead of downloading a completely separate build, as its newest version comes with web VR capabilities. Mozilla's been developing virtual reality features for the web for quite some time now, but it initially decided to load APIs onto a standalone experimental build that works with Rift headsets. Problem is, that version's other features always lag behind the other builds, since it focuses on virtual reality. By adding VR to one of the regular experimental versions, Mozilla will be able to speed up its development process. The developers are hoping that this change will soon enable them to release a Direct-to-Rift feature, as well as support for Linux and Firefox for Android.

It looks like Firefox is done beta-testing the simpler, no-frills version of its "Hello" video chat feature. The latest stable Firefox comes bundled with the updated WebRTC function, which was first released as part of its experimental beta browser in December. First time you've heard of Hello? Most people would've chosen Skype, Hangouts, or another chat app as their default by now, so we wouldn't be surprised. Hello is an in-browser video chat function that Firefox launched last year, but since it supports WebRTC, it'll work even if your chatmate uses Opera or Chrome instead. The public first saw it in October 2014, but the newer version eliminates steps needed to start chatting with friends and family.

Panasonic's promises of Firefox OS-based TVs in 2014 didn't amount to much, but the company is back with much more concrete plans for Mozilla's web-based platform. The electronics giant has revealed that all of its 2015 Life+Screen 4K TVs (the CX600, CX650, CX800 and CX850) launching this spring will run Firefox OS. You can not only run web apps, but also send content to your TV from any device with a Firefox browser or a compatible app. You'll even get notifications from smart appliances connected to your home network, Panasonic says. It's hard to know if the new software will help Panasonic compete with the likes of LG's webOS sets or Samsung's Tizen models, but it's clear that simply making a smart TV isn't enough in the tech world these days -- you need to have a full-fledged software ecosystem to back it up.

Firefox added its 'Hello' videochat feature to its experimental beta browser back in October, and now it's taking on board user feedback to make it all a little more appealing. You can still use the feature without registering for the account, but there's now less steps to get that running - you'll also get an audio ping when your partner joins the call. Conversation windows each have a unique URL, which can be shared, well, anywhere you can paste it. You can then maintain these links to continue conversations at a later time and the message history will remain, even if you aren't registered for an account. So, what is the point of logging in with a Firefox account? It'll let you directly call you contacts - if they're also logged in.. and aren't using Hangouts instead.

Mozilla has been staunchly opposed to an iOS version of its Firefox browser for a while. It wants to use its own web engine, but Apple will only let companies use its in-house code in the name of security. However, the organization is clearly having a change of heart -- VP Jonathan Nightingale has revealed that Mozilla wants to bring Firefox to iOS. He didn't say how it would happen, but it's most likely that the company will use Apple's engine and layer a custom interface on top, like Google does with Chrome. We've reached out to Mozilla and will let you know if it can say more.

That was fast. It was just two weeks ago that Mozilla announced a deal making Yahoo the default search engine in Firefox, and now you can download an updated version of the desktop web browser (Firefox 34) that uses Yahoo as its out-of-the-box search option in North America. The app thankfully won't override your existing choice if you're a veteran user, but it will ask once if you'd like to switch. Android users aren't seeing a similar change in search providers, although it's likely just a matter of time.

Mozilla isn't just rethinking its choice of default search engines in Firefox; it's overhauling the search bar itself. An upcoming version of the web browser will let you search a specific site with one click. If you want to find an ancient Twitter update or scour Wikipedia, you won't have to wait until you get to the search results to take action. The update will let you add other sites, too, such as your favorite restaurant recommendation page. You can argue that Firefox is catching up to Chrome, which lets you type the site you mean to search, but it's hard to object to anything that helps you get to what you wanted a little bit sooner.

Remember when Yahoo was your go-to search engine for browsing the web? It might be again soon, at least if you're a Firefox user. Mozilla and Yahoo just announced a five year deal to make Yahoo the web browser's default search engine, supplanting Google as the top item in Firefox's search bar in the United States. Mozilla says this is part of providing a more "local" experience -- until now, the company defaulted to Google search regardless of the user's country. Now the default search engine will be assigned by region: Yahoo for the United States, Yandex search for Russia and Baidu for China. Each region will have the ability to switch to other local options as well, giving Googlers a chance to switch back if they so desire.

Microsoft has just announced that you'll soon be able to make video and voice Skype calls from just about any computer with a web browser. Skype for Web (beta) calls will work on Chrome, Safari, Firefox and of course, Internet Explorer, with the addition of a "small plugin," at least for now. Microsoft said that it'll eventually work natively on browsers without plugins or downloads once WebRTC is more widely implemented. That'll be especially handy for users with no access to the dedicated app who may want to chat with or message friends from, say, an internet cafe in a foreign country.

You may be very privacy-conscious in this era of mass surveillance, but your web browser hasn't done much to keep up -- big updates like Do Not Track and private browsing windows arrived years ago. Mozilla isn't satisfied with this state of affairs, so it's releasing a new version of Firefox that puts privacy front-and-center. The centerpiece is a "forget" button that makes it easy to scrub cookies, history and other details; you won't have to jump through hoops to eliminate traces of where you've been, whether you're concerned about data theft or just want to hide an embarrassing web session. You can also switch to DuckDuckGo's anti-tracking search engine, and you'll find both a privacy tour (on the desktop) and a coaching add-on (on Android) that help you use relevant features.

One of the biggest threats to your online privacy is the mixture of code that you'll find on some websites. It's all too easy for a legit-looking page to hide data-stealing code, or for innocent sites to accidentally expose your info. If Google, Mozilla and researchers have their way, though, you won't have to worry quite so much about where that info is going. Their new COWL (Confinement with Origin Web Labels) system prevents JavaScript from sharing data with outside websites that aren't explicitly approved; even when the data gets the all-clear, it won't necessarily spread anywhere else. In theory, it should be harder for ne'er-do-wells to hijack a page and grab sensitive content without your knowledge, or simply for you to lose control of where that content goes.

It was only a few weeks ago that Chromecast support was spotted in Firefox for Android's nightly builds -- now it's one step closer to primetime: the feature is now a standard part of the browser's beta package. This means that Mozilla fans eager to stream from their favorite browser can access the experimental feature from Google Play, rather than manually installing the update. It gets better, too: the official beta also has support for Roku streaming, assuming your set top box has the Firefox channel installed. Finally, Mozilla quietly announced that its bringing WebRTC support into the main beta channel of its desktop browser. All of these features are still in their early stages, of course, but if you want a sneak peek at what's next for Mozilla's stable releases, the source links are below.